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The head of the Alameddine criminal clan allegedly linked to deadly shootings in the Sydney gang war is arrested by Turkish Special Forces at a luxury villa after fleeing Australia on a fishing boat
- Masood Zakaria, 27, has been arrested in Turkey
- He is wanted by the police on charges related to the Sydney gang war.
- It is understood that he fled Australia by hiding on a fishing boat.
One of the alleged leading figures in the Alameddine crime ring, which has been waging a blood-soaked war on the streets of Sydney since 2020, has been arrested in Turkey.
Masood Zakaria, 27, was reportedly captured by Turkish Special Forces in raids in the port city of Bodrum on Saturday morning local time.
He had been the most wanted man in New South Wales after being tipped off for impending arrest and subsequently fled the country by hiding on a fishing boat sailing from Western Australia to Malaysia in early 2022.
Zakaria along with several associates were arrested in the raids and is currently being held in a local Bodrum jail, but is likely to be transferred to a prison in the capital Ankara next week, it reports. the daily telegraph.
Zakaria (pictured) is allegedly number two in the Alamedine crime ring. The gang has been involved in a bloody war that has strewn the streets of Sydney with more than a dozen corpses.
The Australian Federal Police have been on the hunt for the suspected Alameddine number two for more than a year and are expected to request his extradition to Sydney.
In December 2021, detectives from the NSW Police Criminal Gang Squad said they were seeking Zakaria with warrants for his arrest for an alleged murder conspiracy and directing organized crime activity in south-west Sydney.
He is alleged to have been instrumental in directing the operations of the Alameddine crime network as they waged a bloody war against rival crime network Brothers4Life between 2020 and 2022.
The conspiracy to murder charge relates to a botched attempt on the life of Brothers4Life member Ibrahem Hamze, a cousin of jailed gang founder Bassam Hamzy.
Pictured from left to right are Alameddine’s suspected associates Ali Younes and Masood Zakaria, who has been arrested in Turkey, along with Rafat Alameddine and Hamdi Alameddine.
Two masked gunmen believed to be targeting Hamze were on a north Sydney street on August 14, 2021 when a police patrol spotted his stolen Mercedes with cloned number plates, forcing them to flee.
Hamze, 27, was arrested months later by NSW police and charged with multiple charges of his own, including soliciting murder, shooting someone “with intent to murder” and firearms offences.
Zakaria, a former bicycle commuter, was not at his Greystanes residence in south-west Sydney when police first went to arrest him in December 2021 as part of the widespread crackdown on Sydney gang warfare in which more than a dozen people were shot dead.
It is suspected that he received a tip or simply “read the room” and fled to Melbourne before traveling to Perth.
It is then understood that he boarded the fishing boat to Malaysia and traveled across Asia to Turkey with the help of his underworld connections.
Zakaria (pictured) is likely to be extradited to Sydney, where he fled in December 2021 as police cracked down on gang violence.
His capture follows the arrests of former Comanchero global boss Mark Buddle and his successor Duax Ngakuru, who had also fled to Turkey.
Zakaria abandoned his wife and children in Sydney, but it was understood that he was in contact with them and members of the Alameddine clan while living as a free man in the Mediterranean oasis.
His wife, Azza Zakaria, was later arrested by New South Wales Crime Commission officers, who accused her of dishonestly obtaining an advantage through deception for her part in the purchase of his property in Graystanes.
Police said he falsely declared an income of $240,000 to get a loan to buy the house in 2019.
She pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a 12-month community correction order in April 2022 and the home was seized by authorities.